Adventures are challenging stuff!
by Chtulhu Is Our Saviour
Summary: The story of a group of adventurers whom has an endless thirst for adventures. This is my first fanfiction, but i have wanted to upload stories here for a while. The story will continue. It is set in the Mystara world setting, in the continent of Brun, and is mainly focused about Karemaikos and Thyatis. Some things may be changed though. I'm not working on this story atm.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

_Vinyl_

I could feel the bumps in the road as our old, yet sturdy, caravan slowly made its way down along it. We had seen almost no other caravans than ours, which is most likely due to the increasing amounts of ambushes this area has had, on normal travelling merchants. Or, at least that was the intel given to us by our contractor, Bo Radu, one of the heads within the noble Radu family. Well, of course Bo wasn't his real name. I smile a bit to myself, as I remember the day where we realized that Bo was not his real name. "You can't tell folks, your real name, when you are doing what I am" was what he had told us, before he looked at us with an astonished expression, as he realised that we had actually thought it was his real name.  
I looked over to Max, our experienced bounty hunter. He was a honored member of the Radu family. It was his fault that we were going out onto this mission. Him, and his _connections_ within the family, were going to make us rich, he had told us. _Illegal_ was the only thing that came to mind as I heard about this quest, which he had been given by the Radu family. Aye, those Radus might be of noble blood, but they are certainly not folks to care for the law very much. Although, even I, have to admit that their way of solving problems is rather.. _Effective._

As we hit a large bumb, I suddenly snap out of the flashback, and look around at my fairly large group of comrades in arms. We were all worn down from the journey. We had travelling these roads for weeks now, and everyone, well at least me and my fellow priest, Gluteus, could at least use a nice bed and a luxurious dinner. My thoughts wandered back to my church, which had once been a place of evil and unholy rituals. I had died there, whilst trying to cleanse it from the undead, but apparently that wasn't exactly what my god had in mind for me. My job wasn't finished yet. I had a church to take care of, undead to hunt and evil to purify. My god, the god of healing, was a merciful, yet serious god with no room for laziness or slack. In comparison to Gluteus' god, mine was a damned slave-driver! Gluteus was indeed a priest of Dionysos; The god of alcohol and parties.

I couldn't understand how he had been raised to the rank of a general, but still was so damned undisciplined. I had heard that the priests coming from the hot and merciless Masters Land, which is where he originates from, were infamous for their cruelness and their strict codex. He was the exact opposite. He was a man with a good bit of his life dedicated to alcohol, and the rest dedicated to healing the wounded. That might be what sepperates the two of us the most; I am a priest of war, and he is a cleric, with his life dedicated to healing the injured.  
"Sometimes, it's perhaps not your homeland which sculpts you, but your companions, maybe." I mumbled to myself. Well, maybe the fact that he was the son of a very rich general had had a positive impact on him, which reminded me of my own childhood. Those had been the merriest days of my life. And even then, it was doing nothing but hard work and spending time with a poor, but loving family. Then the day came where i gave my body and soul to the Church of Dian Cecht. I had spent 9 years of my life, living in that temple. The other priests were my teachers for so long. But i did miss working with animals, feeling the crops i had sown. And talking with my father. We would normally discuss how we would handle the next years harshness and also my brothers future. I loved my father more than anyone in the world. He had always been there for me and had always understood me. I felt kind of sad for the elves, Arya and Juniper. They had both lost their fathers at an early age. Both were killed by the drow elves, or to some known as dark elves. Now the two elven girls had no one but their mothers left, so the two families had to take care of each other, since they had been friends for a couple of hundreds years, if I had understood their stories correct. I couldn't imagine how it would be living your childhood without a father. But maybe elves didn't really make a difference between fathers and mothers. It was an alien thought, one which made me uneasy. A shiver ran up my spine and i looked up at the sky. There was something about elves which which I did not like at all.

The only sound during the ride was the sound of horse hoofs and the snoring of Grakmir, our dwarven cleric. He did nothing but stare at runes all day, eat, drink beer and then the occasional prayer which caused some divine effect. An outburst of excitement was heard from the gnomish illusionist Barfstick "Oh my, look! A sign!". My face contorted into a grunt as I heard who it was. I didn't really like him. He was an expert of illusions and trickeries, and I can't even count how many times his small tricks have nearly cost the lives of our adventuring party. He informed us in a slightly lower voice, saying that we were near our destination. Brimstone, a small town in the empire of Thyatis. There was a small sign underneath the bigger one. It looked like it said "No halflings beyond this point" but it had been painted over so it was hard to tell. Arya jumped out and drew her knife all the while. I could see a slight express of anger when she began to scratch the paint off. "Let me take a look at this" she said and began scraping off the paint. I grinned at her, getting nothing but a stare in return, probably meaning that she didn't want to hear from me again. I turned serious and informed her "You know, that might be a bad idea"

A small sound came from inside some bushes and I saw Aryas panther rushing out and growling to her. I looked to her my face looking like a big question mark. "About twenty-five men, just a couple of hundred meters up the road. All on horses and all armoured. Probably what we are looking for" she said loudly so we all could hear it. You see, the elf Arya was a druid, and usually had a couple of animals scout ahead for us. Hjurnel drew his might two-handed axe and mumbled something slowly. Probably something about at last getting to smash some skulls in, like always. _Dwarves_, _always complaining_. They either got no beer left, they miss styling their beard or their axe is a little rusty. They just keep talking all the damned time. You couldn't concentrate at all with dwarves about. I did not know how Grakmir became a rune-priest, with these clearly missing competences. Gluteus had a warm heart, at least.

I saw Gluteus waking up from the nap he had taken as Sarah, the groups oddball, tried to wake him up. She licked his face, and small strand of saliva ran down his cheek, which gave quite the waking effect. Well, it wasn't for no reason, that she was a shaman, they are generally rumoured to be bat-shit insane. A small bit of craziness doesn't hurt either. I glanced down at my own trusty blade but quickly decided that it wouldn't be wise in this situation. It could be an ally or just some fellow adventurers. We sat in silence as Juniper, our Ranger, drove the caravan further up the road. With some luck, they would just think we were indeed a caravan with special goods, since we had a hippogriph and we all looked like experienced warriors. That was the plan we had relied on. Special wares need special protection.

We met up with the large group of strangers after two minutes or so, and a quick glimpse could tell us that they were one of those groups we had been looking for. These so-called _death patrols_ were formed to exterminate any halflings they were able to scrounge up, who had been encroaching into the territory of 'their' lands. Or so was what we had been told. The halflings had been given this land many centuries ago, but the other residents still didn't want to share their lands with the halflings. No one in Thyatis would really enjoy that. People from there had a great hatred towards almost all foreign races. And this had once been a part of Thyatis and therefore they wanted it back. Bo's theory was that Thyatis had sent trained veterans to kill all halflings they were to find and at the same time 'protect' the city against them. So to brush up our mission we had been given in rough strokes, our quest was to kill the death patrols, and slowly give the halflings their land back.

This group of armoured people clearly did look like one of these groups we were told of. Arya ignored them as she continued scraping off the paint. I cringed as I saw it, and had to admit to myself, that they probably wouldn't look kindly on people travelling with elves. My sword slowly slid into my hand, already close to be fully drawn. One of the men from the approaching group broke away from the patrol and began riding towards us. He looked at Arya quickly and must have thought she was the leader. "Miss, could you tell me, what you are doing to our sign". She gave him a disgruntled look, and stared at him and, before saying with a thick accent "Aye, I saw that sign of yours had been painted over. I just thought i should scrape it off. We don't want none of those filthy halfling bastards here, will we", she quickly lied, to gain the soldiers trust. The man talking to Arya, clearly the one in charge, answered with a grin "Ah, you're right." He says as he frowns his brows at the sign, which had been target for vandalism. "Thanks for that then. But i have to ask what your task here is. It looks like a caravan but you guys look like a tough bunch, eh? So what are you exactly doing in these parts of the land". Juniper answered slowly "Yes sir, we are indeed a caravan, but we've been friends for a time and were bringing some quite valuable items with us. And a few weapons too. Don't want anyone to get their hands on them, right?" I sighed. She had, as always, answered poorly and the caravan now had to be inspected. If she just had avoided the word _weapons__. _The only word which could make us lose control of this situation. And the worst part was, that Grakmir was in there. Thyatis don't like the dwarves. I silently loosened my sword, once again, ready to draw it. "I, unfortunately, have to check what you got in back there. Can't have you bringing weapons to the halflings now would we." Juniper slowly called "Oh, you boys can be at ease, it's just one spear and a single dagger. Not much. The real stuff is something else. Rare wines and art. And it's not even dangerous.´´ She joked. I looked on her, trying to get my eyes to tell her to shut up. She glimpsed at him quickly and tried to end the conversation quickly "Look, we got to go. Need some money to buy food for the trip home". The Armoured man seemed to agree and took a quick look into our wagon. Weirdly enough, he didn't seem to see the dwarves. "Okay men. It's time to leave for the mountains again. Let's go" The commander barked at the rest of the men. They slowly began riding towards the mountain clearly worried about Sarah, as he had stared at them not having said a single word yet. I heard one of them call him a freak, as they rode away. A smile crept unto my face. If they knew what our mission really were, they wouldn't have been so calm. But this is not the place to be fighting.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

_Arya_

I laughed quickly as the patrol rode away. I couldn't believe they had actually fallen for that. I knew I wasn't a good actor, not to mention Juniper, and they had still believed us. I thoughtfully petted my panthers head and it purred in joy. It snarled threatening as Max tried to pet it too, probably trying to do show-off for the group. None other than me could pet my panther. Except maybe Juniper. She was, after all, a druid like me, and as a bonus she was also educated as ranger by the foresters. They were a group of bards, druids, fighters and rangers, but the interesting part was that it was rumoured that they had connections to the peace-keeping group called the Harpers. But no one knew it with certainty. She was indeed worthy of befriending my little feline buddy. But none of the others were thinking of animals as friends. To them they were _just_ animals. They had personalities; They could be in a bright mood, or be really pissy, which they didn't always show. Like me. My smile slowly faded as I remembered that day, when I was meditating by the tree of life, calling my god. However, it was not exactly my god which answered my prayers, and I would soon be possessed by the arch-friend Arktopeldroks, whom still resides deep within my soul, waiting for an opportunity to take over. He was just like the dark side of my own god, Gaia. It was told that once every uncountable amount of years, Gaia would fall asleep, and then He will awaken. A merciless version of Gaia would tear the planet apart and consume all gods. That would be the end of nature for another uncountable amount of years. I was his avatar now, and if that dark version of me was released, I knew, all of my friends would die. I remembered that last time it happened, I was strong enough to hold the little fragment of him back, but as this fragment continuously stays inside of me and grows stronger, I might not hold him back next time. I shook my head as I returned to what was actually happening around me.

We were just outside of the city of Brimstone, a hostile city it seemed like. Not towards us specifically, but just towards the whole outside world, almost as if they had an "Us against them". I noticed the houses as we rode into the city. There was something about them that I just couldn't put my finger on. Then it suddenly clicked. The houses seemed like Halfling houses but rebuilt to fit humans or elves. I guess it did make sense, since we were in a former halfling village. Halflings had lived here until the people from Thyatis had invaded the village and driven them out. "Ok guys. First of all we have to find a place to sleep. It has to be comfortable but try finding a place which won't make people notice us. Maybe the local inn for adventurers, most towns have them" Vinyl yelled out to the group. I was personally fine sleeping in the woods, but the others insisted on some luxurious and expensive inn called The Soft Swan. Just the thought of sleeping in dead birds feathers made the taste of nuts and berries, which I had had for breakfast. It was torture to think about it. Well, we had to get information as well, and I honestly couldn't deny that this place seemed like the perfect place for such a thing. We quickly made our way inside of the inn, which was located in the center of the town. Vinyl stood and sighed delightfully. He was probably already dreaming of the dead feathers he would soon rest his head on. I was surprised by the supreme amount of cruelness in my thoughts. I wasn't used to think like _that_. I knew that I too, would like to sleep on a soft pillow, but something made me think about all the animals who suffered for a single pillow. I wasn't at all used to the thought of slitting my friends throats open while they slept. I was shaken, and scared out of my skin, of the power Arktopeldrochs had over me. I knew he would protect me and let me find anything, with the spell he had bestowed me with, but only if he wanted it. But the influence he had on my mind was most confusing. It wasn't _my_ thoughts. It was the shadows thoughts. But the shadow was me now and I was the shadow. We were two souls in one body. And there isn't room for that in a single living being. Something was going to happen to me soon. I don't know how I knew it, I just knew that the connection between me and the Arktopeldrochs was soon going to be enhanced. I slowly walked inside of the inn behind the others. Most were happy with the idea of an inn. Juniper had chosen to sleep in the wagon and guard it.

As the doors opened a humid air and the stench of sweat and farts flew over to greet us. The inn was crowded, especially around the actual table dealing out beer. Max quickly walked up to the tables, skipping a few people in the queue. A huge and muscular man, quickly turned around, and towered up over him from behind and shook his shoulder. "What in the nine hells do you think you are doing!? You skipped me you degenerate jerk. Now move away, gnome". Max looked at him, a smug smile creeping onto his face, and answered "no, I don't actually think so". He smiled and turned around quickly to order something. A large hand grabbed his shoulder and turned him around again. I noticed that the lumbering man had gotten assistance from two other guys, now standing behind him, both looking excited about the thought of a fight.

"You should move. Now. Or something bad _will_ happen" He said grasping his axe tightly. These people were either looking for a fight, or they had a sense of justice like a knight! Suddenly, coming from the bar came an axe and buried itself deep into the wood in front of the three men's faces. A rusty and sturdy voice yelled in an angry tone. "What are you three doing in my inn. Trying to start a fight, are we? We don't like that here, you know!". A dwarf stood on the wooden desk. Two white striped lined his beard, confirming a dwarf serving the current dwarven king, and I saw Grakmir bowing his head, almost like he was hiding. I vaguely remembered something about the new dwarven kings clan, that they had white stripes in their beard. And Grakmir was related to the former king, who also was a Buhrodu. The big fellows gave the dwarf an uncertain look and began complaining. "It was him! He started it! He skipped the queue. He was about to start a fight because we said he couldn't do that! Come on man, you can't do this to us!" the large man began shouting.

"I don't think so. Some of the people in this inn work here, and act like normal costumers, as to spy on rowdy people such as yourself." He looked up on the ceiling and i noticed there were mirrors all around the ceiling, placed so he could see almost everything happening at his bar. One of the guys looked at Max and he almost seemed like he was about to rip Max's intestines out and feed them to his friends. "Gunnar, I think we should get out of here. It's not worth it". His friend, Gunnar, seemed to consider the offer and then turned around. His eyes stared at Max, as if they told him that this was not over.

The dwarf on the desk looked to Max and began apologizing "I'm so sorry for this incident, but next time please don't skip the people like that. But you didn't seem that scared, so here you go. I can tell you, I would have pissed my pants if that had been me, threatened by that big guy!" A large pint of some clear liquid, which I quickly identified as whiskey as I got the scent of it, was thrown down the table towards Max. The whiskey slid down the table and Max grabbed it, taking a small sip. "Thank you" he said. ``You seem like a decent man" Max continued "So, um, do you know what's going on in this small town. I noticed it seemed rather confused almost as something was about to happen" Max asked silently. "Oh thank you. I want you to know that you are always welcome in my inn. I'll get you some of the best rooms and we can get to know each other a little better. So, what do you fellows want for dinner. Don't you worry mate. You'll get it for free" The dwarf seemed like he didn't hear the questions as he handed a small piece of paper to Max, smiling all the while, I peeked over his shoulder to see the options. Did he want to know if we were with or against him, or did he want to do something to Max? Maybe he just actually wanted to talk. I figured that I had to save that for later, when I noticed something. I gasped. As I looked over his shoulder to see if it was what I thought it was, I could see a list of different meals, but I noticed some of the meals, which were typical halfling meals. And I knew that most halflings kept their recipes to themselves, so it wasn't that likely that he in possession of such a recipe. I quickly changed my surprised look and pouted, looking at the dwarf, to cover up my reaction. "I'm sorry my good dwarf but I am this man's wife" I quickly lied. "And I demand a free meal as well!" The dwarf looked at me amused "I'm sorry ma'am. Isn't it the husband who normally does the work, and the wife who does takes care of his home. I think, personally, that your husbands job sounds more exhausting than that of a wife, and shouldn't you also be at his home, doing the dishes or something?" My face quickly turned angry, this time I was actually offended. My eyes turned into small slits and I answered lowly in a growling voice "I am doing all the work. I take care of him when he's sick. I make his dinners. I take care of him. He would be nothing without me" The dwarf looked amused. "Well if that's true then your meal is free too, I guess" I smiled sweetly and my voice turned into that of a young girl who just had gotten what she wanted "Thank you, good dwarf, that's so nice of you." While ordering the most expensive meal on the menu. A short amount of time after, an annoyed dwarf quickly served it, and began walking away to serve the other costumers. I noticed, in the corner of my eye, Sarah walking out of the inn, probably going to meditate, speak with spirits or some other crazy actions. I didn't care to mention it for the rest of my group as it seemed like something which didn't really matter. Right now we were just sitting down, trying to relax after the long journey we had just overcome.

Just after we had settled down, I looked up as a masculine voice yelled "There is a fight in the stables. Come on, lets go see who wins, boys!" I personally didn't really care as that seemed to be normal in cities. My indifference quickly changed as another voice broke through the noise "It's that big guy and some kind of bird-lion!" My eyes widened as I imagined that majestic creature, Sarah's hippogriph, being torn apart by a big barbarian, or the opposite. Even though I had been tainted by the overfiend, I still did care for nature and life, maybe even more than before with nature. My hands automatically grabbed Vinyl and Max as I pulled them with me, through the crowds of people, also trying to get out to spectate the fight. We pushed the others aside as I drew my friends out to the stables. A bestial growl pierced the air and another, very human, roar welcomed it.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

_Sarah_

I watched with a mix of joy and fear as my own little hippogriff cut the man's leather jerkin open, a nice amount of blood now staining the claws of my pet and his shirt. I knew I had to help him, but it was so satisfying to see a creature, so close to a seagull, almost take down a man. But it didn't have to be right now. Or should I even help? Maybe he had indeed deserved this? I guess no one knows, and now no one will ever know, I smiled to myself wickedly.

To my great disappointment, I heard noises coming from the inn, and as I turned around I saw some of the unenlightened fools run towards the me and the fight, where my little pet was tearing that man apart. A sad smile crossed my face as I thought of how simple their lives were. It would be different when the seagulls would return, which they _would _at some point. Maybe just not right now. I felt a strong arm push me aside as Vinyl came bursting into the stables and stood between the huge man and my hippogriff.

Just as I noticed the people, my hippogriff began spreading out its wings, and just before it took off, I managed to get over to it, and grab around its neck, calming my creature down. ``Easy now, everyone! We can sort this out. Just tell me what's going on´´. Vinyl yelled. He quickly noticed the open wound on the man's chest, and looked up at the him ``am I allowed?´´ he asked while bringing his hands closer to his wound. The barbarian looked at him with suspiciousness and slowly nodded while staring at him with intensity in his eyes. Vinyl brought his hands to the wound and mumbled a prayer quickly, his hands glowing faintly. ``there you go´´ he said and looked at him. The wounds slowly dissipated, leaving new skin where the wound had been.

``Now, why did you attack our hippogriff´´ Vinyl asked. _My_ _hippogriff he must mean_. The barbarian looked a little less hostile now, and answered ``It was attacking my damned horse. And who got the idea of putting this creature in the stables, _with_ the horses´´. Vinyl sighed and looked at me. I shrugged my shoulders and sent him an innocent stare and a smug smile. ``The sign didn't say _only horses_. That means its not my fault. And did it say anywhere that it was for horses? I don't think so´´. I looked at him with defiance. W_hy is it always me who is__wrong. I don't understand. They either get creeped out by my spirits, I__kill a guy or I'm not polite enough. Its not fair._

I walk over to my little one and grabs some of the meat, I keep in a pouch on my hip. The hippogriff instantly snatches it and swallows it, as if stressed out by the events. ``easy, my little one´´ I whisper to him and crawl up on his back ``No one will hurt you now´´. I noticed that quite the amount of people had amassed around us. Suddenly I heard a scream of pain and as I turned around I saw Max's face, twist in agony, all the while a short cloaked person quickly turned around and ran out of the crowd. Then, in an instance everything lighted up and small but shiny orbs of lights were floating in the air. I saw Arya look around in surprise, but her face turned serious as she mumbled some words, probably some arcane spell, and some of the lights disappear. She looked terrified, but i didn't know why. I heard a voice yell ``It was her, I saw it. She must have cursed the sheriff. It's a witch, get her!´´. I realized that it was _me_ he was yelling at! _I'm the bad guy again_. I sighed. I quickly hit me knees against my hippogriff, telling it to fly up. I look down at the mass of people, yelling at me. Naive people, I thought as I flew away, drawing closer to the woods we came from. I would contact my friends later, at a less risky time.

My hippogriff slowly descended in between the woods. As my feet touched the ground I sighed. Nothing could beat the sensation of flying, either on a giant seagull or a hippogriff. I embraced my hippogriff into a hug, and it put its beak over my shoulder as if it wanted to protect me. I smiled. If anything had to be protected it was my little one.

I sat besides the small fire I had created with the help from one of my loyal spirits. People might call me and other shamans crazy, but it does indeed have some benefits. My eyes were closed, all the while my head was rolling in circles. Or that was what I thought I was doing since you cant really remember what happened, after having been in a trance. I had just been told that I occasionally do that while I'm in a trance. I was trying to send my seagull spirit over to the city to contact Arya and Juniper. They would be the most understanding people, I decided.

At the point where I began seeing through my spirits eyes, I again felt the feeling of begin able to fly. I was in heaven, but then it all stopped. I had already arrived at the inn they were staying at. Considering to take the trip again, I slipped in through the window to their room, and I saw Arya sleeping in a bed of hay. She had probably asked for hay instead of goose feathers. My spirit, Eric, materialized itself in the room, human body and seagull head, carrying a greatsword on his back. ``Arya, wake up´´. It was my voice coming from the spirit, and she awoke with nothing but the slightest hint of annoyance, appearing on her face. ``Did you have to come at night Sarah? You could at least just have wrote a letter. I even left such a paper and a pen over there on the drawer´´.

I ignored her whining as I began talking. ``So what are we going to do now? I can't enter the town, and Max have been poisoned by someone in the crowd yesterday. And you looked terrified after you dispelled some of the lights´´. We spoke for another 2 hours and we decided to head out for a halfling town about 5 days of travelling away. Rumours spoke of death-patrols in the area. We would meet up just outside of the city when the road from the forest crossed the road into the mountains, where we had to go.

I had left quickly after the decision was made. I was overjoyed when I came back, mostly because of the flying. That changed quickly though as sleep overcame me, and I drifted into sleep, dreaming about giant water spirits, dragon spirits and other great things.


End file.
